For all types of substrates, magnetic recording media has begun to incorporate perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology in an effort to increase areal density and is now working toward densities of 800 Gbits/in2. Generally, PMR media may be partitioned into two primary functional regions: a soft magnetic underlayer (SUL) and a magnetic recording layer (RL). FIG. 1 (prior art) illustrates portions of a conventional perpendicular magnetic recording disk drive system having a recording head 101 including a trailing write pole 102 and a leading return (opposing) pole 103 magnetically coupled to the write pole 102. An electrically conductive magnetizing coil 104 surrounds the yoke of the write pole 102. The bottom of the opposing pole 103 has a surface area greatly exceeding the surface area of the tip of the write pole 102. As the magnetic recording disk 105 is rotated past the recording head 101, current is passed through the coil 104 to create magnetic flux within the write pole 102. The magnetic flux passes from the write pole 102, through the disk 105, and across to the opposing pole 103 to record in the PMR layer 150. The SUL 110 enables the magnetic flux from the trailing write pole 102 to return to the leading opposing pole 103 with low impedance.